Sarasota County school tax referendum comes up for a vote

As state dollars for education shrank in recent years, many Florida school districts eliminated arts classes or cut teachers' salaries to help make up the difference.

Neither was the case in Sarasota County.

The local district regards the arts as essential as math and reading and kept the classes intact while also offering salaries that are among the highest in the state.

The balm for the state cuts was a one-mill referendum that is up for renewal on March 25. The four-year tax costs a homeowner $1 for every $1,000 of taxable property value and generates about $40 million each year for school operations.

“Certainly those dollars have been essential in the past few years,” Superintendent Lori White said. “It was a way this district could buffer some of those reductions.”

In neighboring Manatee County, schools retained their art and music teachers, but the district has struggled financially. Teachers' pay has been docked through salary cuts and furloughs, including a 1.75 percent pay cut in 2011, according to the Manatee Education Association.

Yet in Sarasota County, the district's teachers were the second- highest paid educators in the state, behind only Miami-Dade County Schools, according to the 2012-13 salary figures from the Florida Department of Education.

That year, Sarasota district teachers were paid, on average, $54,576 annually while Manatee County teachers' salaries averaged $45,745 and their counterparts in Charlotte County, $46,287, education department data shows.

This school year, the average Sarasota teacher's salary jumped to $55,823, according to Sarasota County Schools.

The higher pay has helped Sarasota County recruit top talent and maintain its steady “A” rating, White said.

“It's allowed our district to position ourselves to be a place for new teachers to come and work,” White said.

Would Manatee schools follow Sarasota County in levying a new special tax to pay for its budget?

It's unlikely, at least for now, said Manatee teacher's union president Pat Barber, pointing to the district's budget problems and mistakes that led to Superintendent Tim McGonegal's resignation last year.

“I think the community has to have a lot more trust ... before it'd be worth it to ask the community to vote,” Barber said. “Right now, the district doesn't have that credibility because of the past.”

In 2009, the state allowed school districts to levy a “critical needs tax” for a year to address plummeting tax revenues — but after one year, the districts had to get voter approval.

The school tax went to Manatee voters in 2010 — and failed.

In total, there are about 497 staff members whose salaries and benefits are paid for by the additional school tax.

It generates about 12 percent of the district's operating income, which officials call critical in running the school operations.

“No question about it,” said Al Weidner, the deputy chief financial officer for the school district.

About $10.1 million, or one quarter of the revenue, pays for an extra 30 minutes in the students' day that equals to 14 extra days of learning every school year.

From first bell to last bell, a Sarasota County student is in school for six hours and 45 minutes.

In Manatee County, for instance, students are in school for six hours and 20 minutes, Barber said.

The Sarasota levy covers the salaries of the district's 149 art, music, theater and dance teachers, about $8.7 million annually. That includes certified full-time art and music teachers in every elementary school, which Sarasota district officials say is becoming more unique in the state.

The referendum dollars also are shared with the 10 charter schools in the county.

Charter schools — public schools run by their own governing boards — receive $5.98 million from the referendum to help cover expenses for educating about 5,700 students.

The referendum pays for other salaries, including assistant principals at Title I elementaries.

One critic's concerns about the levy are because of the district's decision to hold the election in March.

The district paid a $400,000 down payment to hold a special election in March, which angered Republican County Party member Walt Augustinowicz. The money came from the previous referendum's proceeds.

“The fact they care so little of that money, they're not good stewards of our tax money,” said Augustinowicz, who also opposed the referendum four years ago.

He prefers the district had asked for the money during the November 2012 election, when voter turnout is historically higher during the general election.

However, there has been little public opposition to the referendum this election season.

If voters reject the tax this year, School Board members and district officials would have to talk about cutting jobs.

The most likely scenario would involve some layoffs and negotiating salary cuts for the rest of the employees with the Sarasota Classified/Teachers Association, Weidner said.

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